Mat Colors?

What color(s) of mat do you use when matting your prints? Single or double mats? Does it affect the marketability of the prints? I have done 4 searches and come up with (almost) nothing. Some have incidentally mentioned mat colors when responding to other topics (e.g. "signing prints"), but I couldn't find a thread devoted to mat colors. TIA

Single white with a black bevel

I work in a frame shop so I have different thoughts on this than most. If they are going to hang in a gallery for a showing then go with a slightly off-white mat(s) with the same plain frame for all. If they are hung in a gallery for sale (long term) I prefer to have the mats and frame to work with the image.
I believe that the right colored mats for certain images will help to sell them
The problem with the colored mats is that I have seen many customers come in the shop bringing a throw pillow or piece of wallpaper and want the mats to match something in the room and not so much the artwork.

If your primarily selling off the internet I'd do like EJ and mat them all the same with a white mat and then when the customer has the frame added at a shop they can then decide to pick a different mat so it matches that paisley couch.

Kinda like Randy says. I have two main approaches. I can't say that either effects marketability since my volume isn't large enough that I could tell. But I do it like this because I like it.

First approach, the basic one, is to just use a single mat, almost always white with a black core as E.J. does. The black core creates a thin pinstripe effect around the print, since I don't mat right up to the edge of the photo but rather make the print with a 0.75+ inch border and mat just over the edge of the paper. (I title & sign the print in the margin (at least 0.5 inch) between the edge of the photo and the edge of the mat.) This is how most of my prints go if sold matted & mounted but not framed, or with only plain, basic framing. It looks clean and crisp, and doesn't beg any questions for how the customer will ultimately (re)frame and display the print.

In the smaller number of cases where I'm making a framed showcase print, selling a print with a more elaborate presentation, or consulting with a customer on the framing, I will look at a double mat approach. In this case usually I don't do a colored mat on top, rather I do white or off-white as the top layer and then a 2nd layer mat that is a complementary color for a signature color in the print. (Also synced up with the framing.) The colored mat layer is narrow, perhaps 0.25 or 0.33 inch wide, and again serves to create a highlight stripe effect around the print. (As above there's a margin where I put the title and signature.) These prints usually are a bit larger and so the colored mat does not attract undue attention... the idea is to support the print, not distract from or compete with it. And as Randy says, it's also not the intention to match things to the pillows, rug or whatever... though the artwork and matting / framing as a whole may be selected to fit a room as a whole.

Where are youo buying the white black core mat board?

You could get it from your local framer or any number of places. Here is a link to Dick Blick's black core page:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/cresc ... rd/#photos

Bob Boner wrote:What color(s) of mat do you use when matting your prints? Single or double mats? Does it affect the marketability of the prints? I have done 4 searches and come up with (almost) nothing. Some have incidentally mentioned mat colors when responding to other topics (e.g. "signing prints"), but I couldn't find a thread devoted to mat colors. TIA

Bob,

It really depends on the intended use for the images. I own my own frame shop and gallery and have been selling fine art photos at galleries and art shows for over 15 years now. Colored mats are OVERWHELMINGLY preferred by my clients both to compliment the art work and their decor. I tried the white mat approach and watched my sales plummet. Of course this is in a fairly rural part of the western US where decor tends toward earth tones and away from cleaner whites and blacks of some of the more urban areas. It pays to know your local market and clientele.

Also, IME double mats are the only option. I know a few photographers that do OK with floating a print and using the backing board for a border and then using a single mat but I have by far the best luck with double mats. If you cut your own mat, a good supplier is www.framingsupplies.com and if you want to buy wholesale cut mats there are several suppliers including my company which will eliminate the need to have a mat cutter and stock material.

Hey Bob--

Bob my feelings are on this subject that certainly white works for just about any picture cause it's neutral and yes most museums demand everything to be museum white, usually heavy board, and sometimes double mat--BUT--museums have reasons for white as they need a level playing field so that only the art itself is to be noticed and it's this art work and not the matting that should be what people notice and appreciate.. I think it stems from the old black and white photo show days(which do look best a lot more often with white matting and black frames). But our strategies are different--at least mine are--and that's to incorporate as much "sizzle" to the steak as we can for sales. That being said, a careful, strategic, selection on the matts and frame can work to add and/or enhance your art sometimes exponentially. It's even foolish in my view to not take advantage of what framing your pic as part of your overall composition can do to it's visual and artistic power. Certainly you would have something else to learn and certainly the costs go up with matting in colors, but on some pictures like wood ducks to example just one, how could using colors not help? Any art form thoughtfully executed, whether it's music, movies, architecture, pictures etc. will look more refined and classy than one hastily thrown together with cookie cutter intent. The extra effort shows IMO and boosts that aura factor.

Personally I favor double matts for their ability to pick up colors in the pic with the inner mat by balancing and/or augmenting that color in the art, and also enhancing the elegance that shows from the extra effort. If you use Suede matt boards they can really add class to the presentation and I find the colors way more subtle and natural than the solid paper colored mattboard. Suede is all I really like to use most of the time. Talk to Jeff Ferguson at www.Classicmatboard.com for your best pricing that I have been able to find on that(under 15 bucks for a 33 inch X41 inch sheet of suede-acid free).. You need to order a corner set of all the colors so that you can judge which colors to use--nothing else can really get one to visualize what the finished product will look like.

I should add that sometimes the framing and matting can outclass the picture content so thought needs to go into that aspect of it all also. But if you have a knock your socks off shot and frame and matt with plain materials and colors, your probably going to miss out on a lot of potential WOW factor and why do that??

Paul

Howdy Les--

Didn't see your post till after I entered mine, but it's reassuring to hear someone in the business echo my own conclusions. Les I don't know who supplies your board, but I would strongly recommend you give Jeff a call at classic matboard, especially if you like the suede boards as I mentioned. Do you do any of your own mat cutting by the way?

Paul

pleverington wrote:Howdy Les--

Didn't see your post till after I entered mine, but it's reassuring to hear someone in the business echo my own conclusions. Les I don't know who supplies your board, but I would strongly recommend you give Jeff a call at classic matboard, especially if you like the suede boards as I mentioned. Do you do any of your own mat cutting by the way?

Paul

Thanks Paul. I don't know them and I will give them a look. I have my own full service wholesale and retail custom frame shop. We service both retail customers and wholesale to other artists and photographers. So yes, we cut our own mats, I have mat cutters up to 60 inches and we even make our own frame moulding, working with blanks of mahogany, tiger maple, black walnut, cherry, red oak and such. We even make our own stretcher bars for canvas gallery wraps. With our own ink jet printers, I have actually gotten to a point where I outsource nothing. Kind of a fun time to be an artist!

Paul, I think maybe I was misunderstood. I was mainly stating what you had said.......a lot of galleries/museums want everything on a level field: white mats, black frames, for a show. If you are selling through a gallery then compliment the image with colored matting.

None of my images that are framed (for sale or in my house) have a single white mat. I have several that even have triple mats, I think the complimentary colors of the matting do indeed sell the images. If I were selling my prints over the internet already matted (I don't and won't at this time) I would use white mats as the buyer won't get the most out of the net to really appreciate the colored matting. People have funny ideas about matting colors i.e. matching the sofa and may change your matting anyways.

Whoops--sorry Randy--my comments were meant for Bob--my mistake. For a senior moment I guess I believed you started the thread not Bob. Appropriate edits made....


Wow Les, that's cool! Been thinking of routing out some custom frames myself after seeing some out of exotic woods at a wood workers shop. Impressive stuff. All I own at present is a routing table--my guess is your using a shaper setup? Which of those mat cutter brands are you using if you don't mind me asking.

Paul

pleverington wrote: Wow Les, that's cool! Been thinking of routing out some custom frames myself after seeing some out of exotic woods at a wood workers shop. Impressive stuff. All I own at present is a routing table--my guess is your using a shaper setup? Which of those mat cutter brands are you using if you don't mind me asking.

Paul

We actually use a moulding maker...kind of a shaper on steroids. MUCH better for actually making m oulding than most shapers I have seen.

We use C&H mat cutters. I have 3 40 inchers and one big older 60 inch. They are fairly expensive but last forever!

Hey Les--

Yeah those C&H jobs look well built.I have been using the logan 750 but just like camera equipment you might as well buy the best as it will ultimately be the best decision. The Fletchers sure look good too--wish there was a way to see them all in person side by side. What's the ETA on your new site by the way?

Paul

pleverington wrote:Hey Les--

Yeah those C&H jobs look well built.I have been using the logan 750 but just like camera equipment you might as well buy the best as it will ultimately be the best decision. The Fletchers sure look good too--wish there was a way to see them all in person side by side. What's the ETA on your new site by the way?

Paul

I actually prefer the C&Hs to the Fletchers but it is kind of like Nikon and Canon. They are both excellent tools. I moved from the Logan 750 many years ago (after wearing out 3 750s) and have never regretted the expense.

The new site is on the back burner for the moment to get a few other projects done but will move to the front fairly soon to get our new framing product online.

Cheers!